Fiskars Ruukki

Today I visited the Fiskars Ruukki for the first time. It's one of the attractions that has been on my to-visit-list for long time, but finally I managed to take the time and get there. The trigger for visiting Fiskars this week was the flower exhibition that my sister participated. She had two pieces on the show, this one being themed in a futuristic way for the Paper House of Fiskars - she had made the frame for the flowers from 800 paper circles! Unfortunately my camera run out of battery, so I didn't get a picture from the other piece. But I'm a very proud big sister.


Detail of the flower setup made by my sister


River being calm

The story about flower exhibition actually explained already what Fiskars Ruukki is all about today: art and handicraft surrounded with beautiful nature. Many artists have residence in the village, and there are shops selling handicrafts. Unlike in many tourist attractions, the food in Fiskars is good too. We had a delicious lunch at Restaurant Kuparipaja (Copper workshop) by the river, and coffee at Petris Chocolate Room. Petris Chocolate Room is something I can warmly recommend: beautiful handmade pralines with perfect chocolate and smart flavor combinations. My absolute favorite was the black currant praline. Petris's artisan chocolate is available in Helsinki too, the shop at Museokatu 11, Töölö is open on weekdays, and they'll have a chocolate bar at Helsinki Design Open event in couple of weeks.


Petris Chocolate Room

Delicious pralines: black currant, lime-coconut and pistachio

Fiskars Ruukki used to be an iron mill, it was founded in the 17th century by the river. All kinds of iron tools were made there - so that's the home of the orange Fiskars scissors too. The beautiful old industrial buildings have been nicely renovated and many of them serve nowadays as shops or exhibition rooms. One of my favorite details in the industrial buildings were the dark bricks in some of the houses: they were made of the blast furnace slag - recycling the industrial waste of the mill. The wooden houses were built for the workers of the mill, and some of them are still in residential use.


Black bricks


Residential buildings


Another residence. The lady of the house at the door (too bad there are no other bees in the pic to give the scale)

Nice experience. I recommend visiting Fiskars for anyone who's staying in Finland for a bit longer, and for the locals as well.


The trees in Fiskars were amazing

Ekberg

Let's continue with the places where the local people go. Ekberg is a popular café in Helsinki city center, Bulevardi. Ekberg is a traditional and a bit old fashioned café with table service and French style pastries - maybe that's why mature ladies like the place. Ekberg's brunch is classic, they've been serving brunch long before brunching turned into a trend. Because of the brunch, on weekends the thirty-something generation shares the stage with the grannies.

Ekberg also has a take-away bakery shop right next to the café. So far it's the only place where you can get really good baguette in Helsinki. Also potato cakes (perunaleivos - yes, they look suspicious) and Napoleon cakes are delicious.

Wee? Gee!

Despite the nasty connotation WeeGee is the best museum center in Helsinki region. It really is. Forgive them, they probably didn't think about the name in English context. Despite the funny name and messy website, WeeGee is without a doubt the only museum in Helsinki region which is worth purchasing an annual ticket (40 euros for unlimited access for a year).

There are five museums in WeeGee: Espoo museum of modern art (EMMA), Espoo city museum, Helinä Rautavaara museum (presenting different cultures), toy museum and watch museum. Each of the museums hosts on average couple of exhibitions per year, and EMMA has great art collection even without the themed seasonal exhibitions. And on Wednesday evenings 6 PM to 8 PM they have free entrance.

WeeGee also serves something for the hippies - a nice brunch on weekends: bread, lettuce, cheese, turkey, eggs, omelet, sausages, pesto, hummus, juices, smoothie, porridge, brownies, pancakes, yoghurt with all kinds of müsli and seeds, fruits, coffee, tea and sparkling wine. The brunch doesn't seem so special if you just look at the titles of the dishes, but the dishes are made of quality ingredients. I liked especially the oat porridge which had a hint of coconut and banana in it. The restaurant is quite spacious, so also larger groups and families with kids and trolleys are able to fit in.

Waiting for Feb 5th

Hooray, we will have the second round in the election! We will have two smart guys against to each other. Both rely on argumentation instead of populism: now shoot the arguments, I'm waiting for them! The next election is in two weeks, February 5th.

February 5th is worth waiting for another reason too. That's the day when we are celebrating Runeberg's day. Our national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg lived in the 19th century, and he has written the lyrics of the national anthem. But the real reason why Runeberg's day is so special lies in his wife's cook book: the delicious pastries named after Runeberg.



Runeberg's tortes are the best pastries there are. They are available only once a year, which is probably part of the secret, but the other half of the secret is the spongy structure, delicious almond and sweet punsch. There are many variations of the torte, on the commercial selection I can recommend a take away torte from Café Ekberg or Kaisa's Café.

Get ready in time. On the 6th of February it's too late - to vote and to chase Runebergs.

Learning the latte

Finland scores high in the coffee consumption per capita, only Luxembourg consumes more coffee than us. The weirdest thing is that in general we prefer really light and bitter roasts that corrode stomach - and yet many people drink several cups a day. Some even smuggle Finnish bitter roast to other side of the globe to comfort and to scorch in the home sickness.

Coffee has a ceremonial role in our culture. On working days two o'clock is a usual coffee break time, in the same way that British have their biological clock ringing for tea (or was it gin) at five o'clock. Coffee is essential part of both celebration and sorrow: it's impossible to imagine a wedding or a funeral without coffee. I'm pretty sure many are having "election coffee" today after they have given their vote.

Finnish coffee culture is not stuck, it's adapting along the time. Darker roasts and "special coffees" (i.e. european style coffee selection) are becoming more and more popular. My generation drinks coffee from a mug. In my parents' generation everybody owns a set of small coffee cups, a dozen at least. And my grandmother's generation may even drink the coffee from a plate, zipping through a sugar cube, which is cool but a bit hard core.

Another view point

I've been on guided Helsinki tour few times. To be honest, mostly the tours have been quite boring: We've been sitting in a bus or tram, the guide has explained some details about this and that - without trying to put them into any relevant context, theme or timeline.

Two classical buildings that each sightseeing tour passes by and all the guides mention, are the National Museum and Finlandia Hall - they are conveniently just opposite to each other, and the busses and trams drive in between the buildings.

Instead of spotting the National Museum and Finlandia hall on a boring sightseeing tour, take a walk around Töölönlahti, the small bay next to Finlandia hall. Have a (coffee and pulla) break at Sinisen Huvilan Kahvila (Café at the Blue Villa). Look at the other side of the bay:

The dark vertical stripe on the facade of Finlandia hall matches perfectly with the tower of the National Museum!